Monday, June 26, 2006

Minor League Scorebook

News

It's going to be a slightly abbreviated news section today,
because I have real work to do (I didn't follow the Dodgers game
at all, horrors), and so the weekly league notebooks from
MILB.com will get out tomorrow.

2. Jered Weaver, rhp, Angels (Triple-A Salt Lake)
Weaver continues to prove he's the best sixth starter in the business,
leaving little doubt that he is ready for the Major
Leagues. After a hiccup in his return to Triple-A, Weaver was
dominant in his second start back, throwing a complete game
shutout in which he struck out 14 batters while allowing just
three baserunners.

From the "In the Team Photo" section:

James Loney, 1b, Dodgers (Triple-A Las Vegas): Seemingly
the lone example of a Dodger prospect stuck in the minors, Loney
has not slowed since Los Angeles sent him to Triple-A Las Vegas
on April 24. In June, the first baseman is hitting .388, and
proving there is power in his bat with a .573 slugging
percentage for the month.

He threw Saturday and he threw today and feels OK," Dodgers
scouting director Logan White said on Sunday. "It's just now
where he's throwing with no pain, though he hasn't really
aired it out yet. So we'll see, but we're pleased with the
way he's responded." LaRoche has been hitting off a tee and
took some live batting practice over the weekend while the
team was in Tucson. Since being called up from Double-A
Jacksonville, LaRoche batted .333 with a pair of homers in
just four games with Triple-A Las Vegas.

I should probably mention that during today's Angels telecast,
we learned that Casey Kotchman is expected back on the 25-man
possibly as soon as within the month.

Finally, I wanted to mention this Owlz game reporting that the user known as dummysr brought to my attention in the Orem Herald.
I've given some thought to adding links to local newspaper coverage of
the various team affiliates into the sidebar, but it's just not
feasible given the space constraints, though using layers or
something like that it could maybe work. Usually, these stories
end up online way too late for me to get to them at my "press
time", which is usually pretty late in the day.

Scores

Willits, R: 0-5, 1 KKendrick, H: 3-4, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 KEylward: 3-4, 2 2BMathis, J: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 KBudde: 1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 KSaunders: (W, 9-3), 7.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 5 K, 3 BB, 2.33 ERA
The machine called Joe Saunders — and who'd have thought I'd be
writing those words at the beginning of the season? — keeps on
ticking along, with yet another strong performance. He's had only
three non-quality starts all year, and the last one was way back on
May
8 — when he got a win anyway after surrendering only four
runs over five innings.

Howie Kendrick had his first multi-hit game in five days, and he made
it count by missing the cycle by only a double; he was also hit by a
pitch, one of two consecutive batters to be so treated by Colorado
Springs starter Miguel Asencio, the other being Mike Eylward. Neither
scored thanks to a Jeff Mathis GIDP, though Mathis did end up drawing
a pair of walks. Eylward also had a good night at the plate, going 3-4
with two doubles.